A once beautiful cinema, now divided into eight screens. The Paramount Theatre opened on 4th September 1937 with Errol Flynn in “Charge of the Light Brigade”. Keith Law gives us some history of the Odeon.

The original seating capacity was for 2,439 with 1,517 in the stalls and 922 in the circle. It was equipped with a Compton 4Manual/10Rank theatre organ which was opened by Al Bollington. The Paramount had a large stage, dressing rooms and a cafe/restaurant.

In August 1942, it was sold to Oscar Deutsch’s Odeon Theatres Ltd. and it was re-named Odeon. In 1965 it was closed for a period while major modernisation was carried out.

The Odeon was used for many live shows during this period of time, including appearances by The Beatles.In May 1988 the Odeon was closed for conversion into a six screen cinema, which re-opened in August 1988. Unfortunately, the Compton organ, which had still been used for concerts, was dismantled and sold. In 1991 two additional screens were opened in the former restaurant area and a former bar in the basement.

The cinema used to have a very ornate auditorium until it was altered. Now it is all very plain, including the foyer entrance. The last refurbishment was carried out in 1998.

As previously mentioned, The Odeon was used for many live shows during this period of time, including appearances by The Beatles. Indeed, for many years it was the venue, for the then many ‘Package Shows’, which consisted of one main star attraction, and several support acts. Sometimes the package consisted of many act, that were all charting at the time.

The star names are many and too numerous to name here, but I have personally seen many shows, including,Bob Dylan, who complained loudly over the Mic, that the stage floor was dirty,and required cleaning!
Also, Duane Eddy, The Everly Brothers, Gene Vincent, Mickie Most, The Shirelles, Mike Bloomfield, Darry Hall and John Oakes and many more.

Here’s my ticket from the The Everly Brothers concert

I even bumped into Eric Burdon of The Animals. He was outside the front, and we had a lovely conversation about his brand new Ford Mustang, that was parked in New Street.

Steve Taylor has sent these ticket stubs through to us of some great past gigs at the Odeon

There Are Currently 89 Comments for this Post

My favourite gig was The Cramps at the Birmingham Odeon. My memory is not what it was but the gig was either April 25th 1984 or April 30th 1986, I’m tending to go for the 86 one due to me age, but anyway.. For those of you who don’t remember the Odeon before it became a 400 screen cinem, selling 2 tonne bags of sugar to kids who need no encouragement whilst showing Rambo 55, it was a fabulous art deco music and cinema hall.

For the gigs, there was a huge orchestra pit which doubled as the mosh pit (well not if you were watching Ultravox or The Thompson Twins), then those lovely plush velvet seats and above, a balcony were assorted punters would cover the crowd below in piss and beer – luckily they were often indistinguishable from one another!

So there I am, fancying myself as a bit of a psychobilly, knocking around at the Barrel Organ, Powerhouse, Zig Zags and all the others when news comes through of The Cramps coming to town to play at the Odeon. Immediately it’s THE ODEON! Who on earth has booked The Cramps to play there? Have they not seen or heard of the mayhem that normally occurs when the play. This reputation was justified. For me The Cramps remain one of THE live music bands. Raw, threatening, chaotic but always brilliant.

As I say above, my memory is no longer functioning as it used to, but this night The Cramps were late on for some reason and literally ripped through the set. Main man Lux carried around the entire audience, climbing right to the top of the pa system, Poison Ivy machine gunning the crowd with her guitar, legs akimbo, hardly, if any, talk by the band and then 30 minutes later they were gone.

Now I wasn’t in the mosh pit that night for some strange reason but they were going wild, calling for encore stamping their feet and so on. But as it became clear The Cramps weren’t returning they had nothing to really vent their anger on. For us in the seats it was different.

I’d never felt such adrenaline or emotion or basic wildness in a live crowd before. As the shouting got louder I can just recall a shower of seats reigning down towards the stage, missing it by some distance and nearly decapitating several hundred pyschobillies (or at least their quiffs). It was over in minutes but seemed like forever, even as everyone filed outside it was as if the whole crowd had become feral.

For the music but mainly for the crowd I think this has to rank as one of my all time favourite gigs in Birmingham.

I was at that Cramps gig and think it was 1984 not long after the Smell of Female live lp came out. It was the Kid Congo lineup. But what a fantastic gig – remains in my top 5 of all time. Other notables I saw at The Odeon were UFO, Van Halen (1978), ACDC amongst many others. Alas I didn’t attend the Cheap Trick/Runaways show (1977 I think) which I am kicking myself about to this day!

The cramps gig refered to was in 1986, when they played two nights a Friday and Saturday this was the Saturday gig. As another point of reference the 1984 cramps gig following the release of smell of female had ike Knox as second guitar not kid Congo. He left the band in 1983. But that gig was my favourite Odeon gig of all time, along with the Ramones in 1978.

Saw loads of bands there was a good sized venue to get top acts like Sabbath (World Tour 1978), Thin Lizzy (Live & Dangerous), Alice Cooper, Van Morrison, Rush, Gillan,Triumph, Sammy Hagar and the list goes on and on….wish I’d saved all those ticket stubs

I worked at the Odeon back in ’85 before moving on to other things. Good times watching Tears For Fears, Dumpies Rusty Nuts & Souxie and the Banshees. Must admit that The Everly Brothers twice in one day was a bit much though,,,,

i was in the st john ambulance and covered the odeon as a first aid duty from about 1976 to 1980 ish – saw some fab bands – ultravox sad cafe, undertones cliff richard meatloaf (administered oxygen to him for 5 nights running ) sabbath, thin lizzy – fab times !!!!!!!!

I saw The Outlaws and Little Feat here in about 75.It was
an excellent show,but what makes it stick out in my mind
is that when the houselights went up after the encores,and everybody was filing out,I realised that the tall bloke with the big hair who had sat right in front of me all night was Robert Plant,who was there with his missus.
I could not believe that I had not noticed him all night!I tried to find a pen to get his autograph,but they were off,seemingly unnoticed, into the crowd at the main exit.
I walked out towards Dale End to get my bus,and then saw them again,walking ahead of me.I tried to catch them,but they disappeared into a posh Indian restaurant called
The Radjoot or something.Being a student,I only had enough money for busfare left,and couldnt follow them in.So I never
did get Planty’s autograph,but it made a great night just that little bit better.

Anyway, The Odeon was a temple at which, at some time or another most of us brummies have worshipped. First gig was Rainbow supported by Stretch in 76 and probably last was The Cult around 87. So many great memories but the best would be seeing Slade, Sabbath, Quo, Hawkwind, Whitesnake, ZZ Top, UFO, Ian Gillan Band, Quill, Van Halen, Journey, Uriah Heep, Paice Ashton and Lord, Alvin Lee Band, Triumph, Pat Travers and probably a 100+ more. One Saturday afternoon, middle 70s time, while walking down New St. towards the Odeon from the ramp but on the opposite side of the road I noticed a big black limo about to turn down the side road to the stage door, as it turned a beautiful blonde babe looked out the back window and smiled at me. It was Stevie Nicks. All of the above and loads more, is why i loved The Birmingham Odeon!!!

Jon, 2 years since you posted but it was Friday May 30th 1986, found my ticket tucked into the sleeve of A Date with Elvis, I had seat NN37. There`s a great 3 song set they played on The Tube either post or prior to this gig. I clearly remember the bass player wearing not a lot, Ivy in a see through teddy and i`m not sure but I think Lux took his trousers off, anyway the bass players name was Fur and she only played on this tour as far as i`m aware.

First show at the odeon was SLADE in 1974, so loud yet so amazing, I can still see the band on satge to this day.
I saw maybe a 100 shows at the odeon between 1974-1988..very sad when it became a cinema (what crap)..
Saw Rush twice 1979/80, marillion 5 times , alice cooper twice, Journey (1979),ZZTOP )(1983),sO MANY OTHERS .I have most of the ticket stubs from all these shows…Most expensive was Robert Plant 5 pounds in 1983…I think It went upto 6,00 pounds..You could go there for a weekend of shows for 12.00quid..Awesome days..Me mate saw The Stones in 73′ for a pound…good grief..Still ranks as the Best sound I have ever heard in a venue.

It Bites unfortunately was my first odeon gig followed shortly after by Fuzzbox…I have the demo somewhere. They sang a cover of white christmas, this angered my mom. Gutted I missed the cult as I’m led to believe the mighty Gaye Bykers On Acid supported. I saw the mission there also. I remember wayne hussey gushing with excitement that Severina had been played on the queen vic (eastenders)jukebox earlier on in the week.

@John Bounds
your memory surely is playing tricks. The Odeon never had a ‘Mosh pit’. The Orchestra pit was covered over early 70s by a sloping front to the stage. For concerts we ( I worked there for 15 years) built a metal crash barrier across it.This lasted until 1977 when the stage apron or forestage was built out and extended. In the orchestra pit which was permanenlly covered over, stoofd the mighty Compton theatre organ.This was renovated and used for organ recitals until it’s removal in 1989. The velvet seating you refer to had long gone by then and horrible orange nylon seating had been installed. I don’t ever remember any tales of punters being pissed on from above… but I could be wrong? There was a general rule of no dancing .Punters used to stand up and run to the front but the seating remained in fixed situation for every gig. The security were a force to be reconned with although I did see them meet their match during a Bill Haley gig in 77 when the crowed did go wild and wrecked a large part of the balcony seating and the stalls.

Bands i remember seeing at the odeon,still got all the ticket stubs aswell…ac/dc.£1.50,.iggy pop 3 times..£2 to £2.75,hawkwind twice.£1.50 to £2,heavy metal kids..£1.50,tubes,uriah heep twice..£1.40 and £2.50,black sabbath with van halen supporting..£2.80,ufo..£2.50,ted nugent..£1.40,gary numan 3 times..£3 to £3.75,alice cooper..£8.50,judas priest 3 times..£2.50 to £3,good venue but not as good as the earlier town hall

Here are some of the ones I remember…..
Black Sabbath 10th years June 1978 – we queued at the back of the Odeon at 5am, atmosphere was great and we got 5th row from the front. Van Halen supported then the Sabs came on and Ozzy sprayed champers on the amps and that was the end of the concert!!
ITV studio for Revolver – Tourists & Eddie and the Hotrods August 8th 1978
Hawkwind October 17th 1978 – my fave band then and now!!
Judas Priest November 13th 1978
Bham Town Hall Magnum supported by Reno December 22nd 1978
In 1979, there was Steve Hillage (Feb), Pat Travis (Mar), Kate Bush at the Hipp & Motorhead at the Odeon (Apr), Rush, Scorpions, Judas Priest (May), Van Halen (Jun), Deff Leppard supporting Sammy Hagar (Sep), Whitesnake (Oct), Steve Hillage, Motorhead, Hawkwind, 10years Later ( Alvin Lee), Motorhead again, AD/DC (Nov).
Not sure what happened in 1980 but there was UFO, Black Sabs with Ronnie James Dio – can’t remember much of that year. In 1981 there was Stranglers (Feb), Iron Maiden (Mar), Budgie at Digbeth Civic (May), Hawkwind , Tangerine Dreams (Oct), Stranglers again, Saxon (Nov), Nik Turner and Here & Now both at the Eagle in Dec.
A bit hazy again but there was Alice Cooper (Feb 82), Eddie Grant (Nov 83), Siouxsie & the Banshees (Jun 84) and then the Creatures, UB40 (Oct 85).
There was also Angelwitch at Digbeth, and Jameson Raid, Quartz, Handsome Beasts, Cryer, Limelight and others I can’t remember at Bogarts, R&J’s.
And most of those concerts were £2 – £3!!! Alice Cooper this year was £36!!!
Happy days back there in the late 70s!!!
I will look through stuff I have kept…….

…was working on a list of gigs but looked at yours and it seems we went to many of the same ones! Couldn’t remember any of the dates but I got as far as 1980 / 81 before running out of steam. Fond memories included having to queue for tickets (pre Internet of course) then heading off to the spud van after a gig to scoff a bag full of charred spuds. Here’s my list so far:-

I stuck all my ticket stubs in a book (I gave up train spotting when I started to grow pubic hair). i knw they’d come in handy one day. I will spare you all the details (also, annoyingly, the Odeon never used to print the year on the ticket,just the date) but here are some of the most memorable ones:

Santana 10/11/76 – my first concert
The Tubes – outrageous American punks-cum-rip off artists-cum one hit wonders
U2 supported by The Big Country 27/3/83
Television supported by Blondie 13/4/78 – a bloke in the audience passed Debbie Harry a note (phone number?) and she took it off him. B*stard
Jimmy Cliff 1/5/83 Brilliant
Bad Company 26/3/79 Guest appearance by Robert Plant – he was sitting in front of me and I thought “I know that bloke from somewhere!!!”
Simple Minds 13/3/84 and 14/3/84. Jim Kerr had a sore throat for the concert on the 15/3/84 so they cancelled. I was a bit of a fan
It looks like my last one there was The Cure on 29/4/84. Happy days.

First gig was Rainbow 11 Sept. 1976- Cozy Powell, Ronnie Dio and of course Ritchie, in the classic line-up. A night that changed my life forever!!! I saw dozens there after that-
Saxon circa 1985, Sammy Hagar on the Red tour, Ozzy/Ratt on the Ultimate Sin tour (he was truly awful), as were Motley Crue, supported by the wonderful Cheap Trick- I went home after half an hour of Crue!
Black Sabbath (when Ray Gillen deputised for Glenn Hughes) on the 7th Star tour, playing on home soil to a half empty Odeon!….very sad.

The Cult were the last (according to my ticket was 12th March 1987) They were supported by Gay Bikers on Acid I seem to recall.

One gig missing from your list and it was absolutely mega!
I think it was October but it was definitely 1976. The gig………….Aerosmith.
The gig was unusual because it was during a big transition for the band. Steve Tyler and Joe Perry were always high on different substances and it unfortunately reflected in the music. I think joe left the band that night and was replaced by the very qualified Jim Crespo. Anyway, the highlight of that night was the supporting band.
I think they were members of other accomplished bands like Sweet and Argent. They called themselves Phoenix and to be honest, they were the headline act that night night. Absolutely brilliant and so much so that I recall a section of Aerosmiths set whereby quite a few were calling for Phoenix to come back on!
Anyway, the night was indeed epic and I buzzed for what seemed like weeks.
Please,please, please include it in your listing. It may provoke a few memories!

Does anyone else out there remember the Odeon performance of T Rex in July 1971? I found a ticket that gives the date as Friday 2nd but when I search for reports of the concert, they are for Saturday 3rd. I guess the concert date changed but can anyone confirm?
As for the best concert @ New Street Odeon, Black Sabbath 14th December 1973.

Yeah it was a Saturday. Can’t recall if the date was switched. I do remember Marc’s opening number, it was Elemental Child. I remember he was wearing shiny green loons and a big baggy white shirt. The crowd were screaming fo him to sing ‘the wizzard’ He obliged and sang a few lines. Could you scan the ticket for me David? I’d love to see it again.

I believe the T Rex gig was november the 5th 1971 as i’d just bought “Electric Warrior” (superb today as it was then) I was ill but my friend went along and said it was brilliant!!… But i did go in 1972..

The T.Rex gig was Friday 2nd July 1971, they also played there on 9 June 1972, 28 January 1974 and 17 March 1977. The 5 November 1971 date was at the Town Hall, not The Odeon. I went to all of these gigs.

Me and my mates all lived in Cheltenham and we used to get the train up to New Street, trains were cheap in those days and it was only an hour trip, we used to see loads of others we knew from our way on the train.
There was always a great atmosphere at the Odeon, and remember well the lads charging at the stage when the lights went down for the heavy rock gigs and the bouncers trying to push them back, got a bit rough at times !
Happy days and great memories of those nights at the Brum Odeon 30+ years ago.

It would be an interesting project, for someone to raid the archive, of the Birmingham Evening Mail at the Central Library. On Fridays the Odeon took out a display advert for forthcoming events. And then of course there are the concert reviews that apeared in the mail. I am also aware of one or two maybe more backstage artist/crew shinanigans…………..

Went to numerous Odeon concerts when at school (St Philips in Edgbaston) then more after coming back to Brum after uni. Can’t remember too many now but the ticket stubs are all in the loft. Santana, Wishbone Ash, Jeff Beck (must have been about ’82 – the only ticket stub I don’t have as my girl friend at the time (hi to Jayne Mills) put them in her handbag and not realising I saved them, chucked them out the next day). Nearly always a great sound there, so much better than the Town Hall.
One stand out moment, because it was so unexpected, was the support for Robin Trower in March 75 – John Miles, famed for the epic hit ‘Music’. I knew he was a good guitarist, but didn’t know much about him nor what to expect. He started his first number, playing off-stage – a fantastic guitar intro, as he strolled onto the dark stage, lit by a spotlight, the intro turning into a barnstorming version of Rock and Roll Hoochie Coo, a Rick Derringer/Johnny Winter favourite of mine, something you’d not have expected from him..absolutely brilliant.

09/02/1986 MOTLEY CRUE / Cheap Trick
I remember walking out on Motley Crue as they remain the worst band that I have paid money to see. Tommy Lee was off his face and was more interested in bouncing sticks off his toms into the crowd than actually keeping any kind of beat, which he signally failed to do. We’d really only gone to see Cheap Trick anyway.

01/03/1986 JOHN MARTYN / Martin Stephenson and The Daintees

12/05/1986 THE RAMONES / The Prisoners
This was a fantastic gig. I was in the balcony, but the stalls looked pretty rough. There were roadies with baseball bats to deter stage invaders.

26/05/1986 PUBLIC IMAGE LIMITED / Black Britain
Another great gig. Somewhat surprised by them starting with an instrumental cover of Zeppelin’s Kashmir! Lydon spoke twice: “Hello Birmingham” after Kashmir and “bye bye Birmingham” at the end!

30/05/1986 THE CRAMPS
Another one to tell the grandkids about. The Cramps were a force of nature.

12/09/1986 GTR

29/10/1986 THE STRANGLERS / Xmal Deutschland

08/11/1986 HAWKWIND
I was in the balcony and fell asleep during this. I’d had a hard day!!!

15/11/1986 VAN MORRISON
Van was very grumpy and spent a great deal of time with his back to the audience.

19/11/1986 SUZANNE VEGA
This was sublime. Her first album was brilliant and you got the impression that she meant and felt every word.

03/12/1986 ALICE COOPER

12/02/1987 THE PSYCHEDELIC FURS / The Ward Brothers

25/02/1987 CYNDI LAUPER

13/03/1987 THE CULT / Gaye Bykers On Acid
Probably The Cult’s best tour. They were on brilliant form!

28/03/1987 SIMPLY RED / Terence Trent D’arby
I got dragged along to this. Terence Trent D’arby blew Simply Red (Dead?!!) offstage. He was brilliant and I though he would be a big star. Ah well. You win some, you lose some. Mick Hucknall put everything into this gig, but the band looked bored and were probably wondering about what was on the rider backstage.

My first concert was at the Odeon, Hawkwind with Dr Feelgood supporting. Also saw Lynyrd Skynyrd (sutherland brothers supporting) and Uriah Heep. Security at the Hawkwind concert was very tight as it was a month after the pub bombings.

Once in my life I left a rock-concert – because it was not good at all and for that too loud. That was n town at the Odeon in Birmingham on 2nd March, 1976. And on stage war Robin Trower (formerly known as the gitarrist of Procol Harum (an wonderful band!)

That is amazing. I too only ever walked out of a concert once and that was also Robin Trower i 1979 or 1980 (I can’t remember which year as I gave my ticket to a Woman in the foyer who was being informed by the security she couldn’t go in, that is until I gave her my ticket.

Also, used to vist the Odeon what seemed like virtually every week in 79/80 to see bands play. Can remember most of the lineups (including some support acts) but very hazy on the date. If you could use this vague information, let me know and I’ll try and tease the memory banks.
Great site – keep up the good work

At the top of your list it says Cream 1964. Wrong, Cream were not formed until 1966 and Eric Clapton was still with the Yardbirds in 1964. Here are some gigs that I went to and I am looking at the ticket stubs as I type this. The Boomtown Rats 20/2/85, Ech and The Bunnymen 16/12/85, The Buzzcocks 24/10/79 and 30/10/80, The Ramones 6/2/80, Adam and The Ants 8/12/80, Siouxsie and The Banshees 26/8/81 and The Stranglers 16/7/80 , 16/2/81 , 15/11/81 , 3/2/83 and 29/10/86. Of course, a lot of groups have their own comprehensive gig guide going back from when they started but trawling through loads of group websites would be exhausting.

I used to live in the Odeon.
The first gig I EVER went too was Mud, with Bilbo Baggins supporting
Other gigs, of which I have the ticket stubs, including
Leo Sayer £4
The Hollies £3.80
Billy Joel £4.00
Nazareth £2.80
The Ramones £2.50
Bill Haley £4.50-This was filmed for Central Televeision and is now available on a poor quality DVD,and you can just about make me out doing some head banging stuff.
The Kinks £3.00
Squeeze with Wreckless Eric £3.00
Tom Petty £4.00 (I was beginning to see the light of day!)
Sad Cafe £3.00
Showaddywaddy £3.50
Dr Hook £5.00
Madness £3.00
The Ramones £3.50 (1980)
I also saw, but don’t have the ticket stubs..
Elton John on the Louder Than Concorde, But not quite as pretty tour, support was Murray Head
Spyro Gyra
Thin Lizzy, on their last tour. I attended with my leg in a cast after a motorbike accident claimed my Honda 125
The Boomtown Rats x2
Dave Edmunds with Robert Plant as special guest at the end, and supported by Jameson Raid..and excellent local band
I’m sure there were more, but my memry had gone a bit hazy..

Saw the Four Tops, The Jackson 5 & The Supremes at the Odeon 1971/72. Would love to know who was on with them as can’t remember now. Motown was at it’s height , still loving it today & Northern soul. Also saw the Beachboys there twice 1970/71.Great memories, KTF!

My first ever ‘gig’ was to see David Essex at the Odeon on 10th November 1974. Support that night was Merlin. Since then, I’ve been to the following Odeon gigs:-

10-Feb-77 – Abba
24-Feb-79 – Billy Joel
09-Mar-79 – Joan Armatrading
26-Mar-79 – Bad Company (Feat. special guest appearance by Robert Plant)
23-Apr-79 – John Miles (Support was Bandit)
17-Jul-82 – Steve Miller Band
12-Apr-86 – Johnny Cash & The Carter Family (Support was George Hamilton IV) – I met Johnny at the side of the Odeon as he was boarding his tour bus after the gig

The Odeon will remain a special place to me and many other Brummies I’m sure.

Hi Tony Cotter, are you sure the Abba concert was in 1977 and not one or two years earlier? I have the ticket stub too and I thought it was 76 if not 75 I reember you could only get the tickets over the evening mail. Limited to 4 per person and first come first served. The demands were so high they could have sold out the odeon over 10 times. I was very lucky to get my ticket on the black market outside the odeon at a fair price. People were paying over 100 pounds (40 times the face value!) which was a fortune in those days.
Thanks.

Came back to England 1973 saw the following at the Odeon but cannot remember the years
Trex, Supertramp, 10CC Rick Wakeman, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, OMD with reel to reel tape machine as a drummer, Adam and the Ants (Cued outside from 5am and was given tea and bisquits by the manager) , The Police, Stiff Little Fingers, X Ray Spex, Ulrtavox, Gary Newman, The Cure supporting Sousie and the Banshees mind fading now with so many memories of good nights.

1974 queued round the block after walking into town in the middle of the night for tickets for The Faces gig in November. Unfortunately the week before the gig was the Birmingham pub bombing. My mate wasn’t allowed to go but I kept schtum and still went. The Odeon was in between both the pubs of course so the atmosphere was tense but Rod and the lads made it a great night. Later on circa 78 he did that solo tour and the stage at the Granby Halls in Leicester were covered in silk. I thought “what a pillock” and went “Roight Off Him”
Dicky Mint

I saw ultrvox,queen( I think it was at Xmas 75 ) the skids was a great concert with the great Stuart a damson ,Richard Hobson…..working for the Yankee dollar…charade, saw kraftwerk Sammy Hagar ,and Japan was a memorable concert too. And squeeze with jools holland chewing on a large Havana cigar all nite…great memories

Other concerts that I have fond memories of was Acdc at bingles hall stafford ,a few months later Bon Scott died, and I saw the great jazz legend miles Davies at the nec ,who also months later also died.

Just before I got on the plane from Düsseldorf to Birmingham in the Summer of ’75 I heard of a British band called Queen. Only a few days after my arrival I learned from a Poster near Bull Ring that this relatively new rock group with a Singer called Freddie would soon play at the Birmingham Odeon. On the day of the advertised gig I got on the bus that took me from Moseley to the City Center. And then I could not believe my eyes: the band Queen – in Germany only known to music-experts – was obviously better known in Birmingham. Much better: the crowd waiting to get in the Odeon to hear and see the Band was reaching around two Blocks.

I saw loads of bands here in my youth. Motorhead stand out the most for the loudness and entertainment. First time i saw them was 1980 Ace Up Your Sleeve tour. What stood out the most was that as soon as i entered the Odeon a punk was dropped over the balcony of the circle. Saw them on there iron fist tour about 82 in april. Me and my mates brought tickets for the friday and sunday shows but we could only get front row stalls on the friday. in those days the tickets were colour coded so front stalls were dark blue and normal stalls were pink. So on the sunday night we got in the front stalls by showing our Friday night ticket stubbs. Happy days.

Remember an interesting experience – at least for a German just arriving in Birmingham: it was in 1975 and I had heard of a British band called Queen. Soon after my arrival I learned from a poster on New Street right in the city center that Queen – some kind of Art Rock Combo with a singer called Freddy or so – would perform at the Odeon. I thought I’d go there To see an upcoming music group so that there is at least a small crowd… So on the day of the gig I got on the bus in Moseley and got Birminham Center, and I could not believe my eyes: there was a huge crowd reaching around two blocks – everybody had tickets, except for one naïve German

Black Sabbath ‘Never Say Die’ tour with Van Halen as support in 1978 (first night when the PA equipment failed). Now I can’t remember if it was this night, or the return gig, but I’m sure at one point Ozzy was leaping around on the stage and he split his trousers and had to go off and change.

here are the dates from the gigs I have ticket stubs for – sadly I didn’t keep all of them or lost them,
The Odeon was a magical venue to see bands play live – loved being in the bar when the bell went to announce the show was about to start, or the mad dash from the Costers to get in as the band hit the stage, and the health and safety people would have a fit if they could see the way the PA was crudely lashed together with rope – how it never keeled over I do not know.

I have many happy memories of gigs at the Odeon start seeing with my first ever rock concert of any kind ‘Gillan’ on the ‘Double Trouble’Tour in 1981.After that dates are a little hazy but I saw Saxon,Iron Maiden(83),Metallica,Mamas Boys,Thin Lizzy(83),Uriah Heep,Motorhead(my ears rang for three days solid afterwards!)Whitesnake..to name a few of the concerts I enjoyed in my teen-age headbanging past.I remember seeing a young guitarist by the name of Janick Gers at the Gillan gig(Now an Iron Maiden stalwart)also a large bass player by the name of John McCoy swinging on a giant trapeze above the stage-mad or what!Back then I didn’t know the difference between a Fender and a Gibson,a Marshall or a Laney.What matters is I was there,living out my air guitar fantasies!I went on to see over 100 gigs including Iron Maiden twenty times,several festivals including Deep Purple at Knebworth,Monsters of Rock and more recently Judas Priest,AC/DC and others at N.E.C Birmingham.The prices have gone up shockingly since those Odeon days mind!how much for a programmer?Crickey ..bring back the Good Old Odeon days!

November 22. 1963 was a day of history.
The Stan Kenton Swing Band was on a European tour and appearing at the Odeon in the evening. The interval was extended and the audience were left wondering the reason. After about 45 minutes Kenton appeared and announced that President Kennedy had been shot but the programme would continue. Leaving the theatre we found a special edition of the Birmingham Mail on sale. I understand that the State Departmennt ordered the band back to the U.S.

Many times we hopped on the train from Stourbridge to New Street to go to Birmingham Odeon to see a band, it was a great venue. The security quite regularly moved you forward closer to front if you were short like me and the one time that I was moved and wish that I hadn’t been was when we saw Motorhead, I can’t remember the year or date but I still have the ringing in my ears. Others seen there included: Adam and the Ants, Gang of Four, Souixsie & the Banshees twice, once with Robert Smith playing guitar, Psychadelic Furs, Echo and the Bunnymen, The Cure, The Red Wedge Tour, Big Country supporting U2, Hazel O’Connor, Whitesnake (my mum and dad took me), Public Image Limited. We did see (if anyone could confirm) Stiff Little Fingers & New Order there I think and they were great.